Part of the question is what is smart and what is a watch? I always liked the Casio products. One I really loved (still have) doubled as a remote control so you could go into a bar and using your watch you could change the channel on the TV (if you could figure out the code for that TV). And there were the calculators and info/appointment/PIM/PDA/contacts watches. And they'd seem to run forever, tho the black plastic strap gave you a bit of a nerd look.

But were those smart? What's so smart about today's "wearables"? They still have to transmit to a (smart) phone or Internet to be fully-featured. And most just count the bounces or are an external display for a smartphone. I gave up wearing a watch a few years ago as it was redundant with my ever-present cell phone - and they get caught on your shirt cuff - far worse now with today's clunkers. And like Mr. Crusty, I prefer a mechanical (self-winding) or nice-looking, slim Seiko (electric/quartz) watch.

Show me something to put on my wrist that looks nice, tells time, and does something I can't live without - all by itself - and I'll get interested again. I don't really need a watch to monitor my minute-by-minute health. There's a highly-evolved subsystem in my brain that has done that nicely for decades. Meantime, the term "wearable" (an adjective, not a noun) reminds me of the earlier PCs (Osborne) that were "luggable".

I used to have the Casio that included a DTMF phone dialer speaker. It was great in the days of calling cards and when I carpooled for three years with a friend. I'd let the watch dial the phone to let him know I was on my way. I never learned his phone number.

Now I have the Casio WV-10 with a color camera. Great for taking pictures of people I meet so I can remember who is who later. (I have a terrible audio memory, but if I see it, I remember it.)

I also have the Casio that listens to WWV to always have the correct time. (I grew up in a household where no two clocks had the same time and it drove me nuts)

However I find myself using the clock on my phone more.

I miss the ring watch I had once. It was great for checking the time without being obvious.

I'm from the generation when a watch was a coveted graduation present and have pretty much strapped one on every day even in the era of the smart watch, iphone, etc (my one concession is using the phone as an alarm clock when I travel). Recently, the battery on my swatch died, and it's frankly kind of a hassle to repalce it, so I thought I'd try going watch-less cold turkey. I turned into one of those annoying people who was constantly going up to other people asking the time. I haven't quite broken down and bought a watch or replaced the battery on mine, but i did borrow my husband's watch for a recent trip to Thailand (imagine how screwed up I would be there!). What I love about his watch is that there is a function where you can click through to choose different cities of the world to adjust the time --very helpful when transiting through places like Seoul and Thailand, where you're not even sure of the time!!!

I was one of the main people responsible for installing fire alarms in all London Underground stations after the Kings Cross fire disaster.

I worked 7 days a week 12 hours on duty and 12 hours on call for one year.

The higher duty payment would have been frittered away, so I decided that we would have something to remember that massive task. Which is why I bought from a very reputable jewelers my Rolex and two ladies Rolex for the wife and one for the daughter all second hand but worth every penny.

First requirement to design novel, pretty smart watch is that it must be totally defined by non-technical person and with no involvement of EE or SW engineer. Their duty should be just restricted to implementation of requirements and no other voice to screw up design.

With this, perhaps you may get dream smart watch, again object of desire for billions around world.

here you go! The Fossil FX-3002 is one of the first Microsoft Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT) devices to reach the market. Operating with a customizable data filter to FM-subcarrier broadcast information, the Fossil watch provides 'at-a-glance' updates on sports, stock market, weather, and other news items. Text messages can also be delivered via MSN Messenger. Both the nature of the news items to be displayed and the display characteristics can be selected by the user to match individual tastes and interests. Access to the information requires the user to sign up for MSN Direct service which is $9.95/month or $59.95/year.

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